Pages

Sunday, 11 November 2012

Mirisa Garden

It rained all day yesterday. The rain gauge shows we had 40 ml. and the garden loved it. It's the first real rain (except for an occasional light sprinkle) we've had here since July. The frogs partied all night. You could hear the deep "croak croak croak" of the green frogs and the "needip needip pop pop" of the native frogs. It was music to our ears.The rain didn't stop us visiting an open garden that I've been looking forward to for some time. Mirisa Garden is more an arboretum than a garden with over 360 species of trees that are currently or were once indigenous to South East Queensland. Philip, the owner and gardener, describes it as dry rainforest. It was far from dry when we visited yesterday - the rain was pouring down.

The rain would have stopped ﻿quite a few people from venturing out, but they are open again today so I hope they have more visitors. Philip took us and another couple on a tour of his 6 acre garden, explaining his propagation methods, growing secrets and the features of many of the trees, sharing some of the knowledge he had acquired over the past 20 years of growing these trees.

It was raining too much on our walk to take photos but I did snap a couple of the market area they (and some friends) had set up in a clearing. You have a glimpse of the trees in the background.

Of course, we came home with a few plants.

Canistrum Trianulare mounted on wood

I had a great conversation with the lady who was selling the bromeliads. She gave me lots of advice on the growing needs of various plants and methods of displaying them.

I think she recognised she had found a fellow enthusiast. I came home with an invitation to visit her garden and see her bromeliad collection.

We couldn't resist this planting of eight mini neoregelias.

Her main advice to get really vibrant colour with neoregelias is to give them morning sun - never full midday sun because that with burn or bleach them - never full shade or the colour will not develop - morning sun.

I would love to see this lady's garden but I may have to leave my wallet at home. Can you ever have too many broms?

We didn't just buy bromeliads. We also bought another couple of trees for our rainforest area and an orchid and some native ginger

Oh - and we also came home with ....

some new family members

They had chickens and ducklings for sale.

Three new babies

They are quite shy and frightened at the moment so I'll introduce them properly once they've settled in.

4 comments:

Are you sure that is all you bought??All your new treasures are lovely, even the new baby chicks.Again I ask, are you sure that is all you bought?You can be honest with us, we all get carried away with new plants on sale...smile.

It's so hard to not buy the fabulous plants sold by well informed people! Love the baby chicks and ducks. I'm adding a little metal chicken sculpture to the garden next summer since that's the closest I'll probably ever get to owning a chicken. Poo!

Must have been great to see such a garden. Love bromeliads, would love to grow lots of them if we had the heated greenhouse space as they look so exotic. Might incorporate a few next year as summer bedding :) hope the new pets settle in well soon!

Oh I like the way those bromeliads are displayed. mmm since they pruned the lychee tree my bromeliads have been getting morning sun - that must be why they are more colorful and there I thought it was something I was doing....

LinkWithin

Hello & Welcome

My name is Missy. Welcome to my garden. This is my blog although I do let Ros write most of the posts. I'm an Australian Silkie Terrier and although I'm cute, I'm not very good at typing. We try to keep family and friends up-to-date on what's happening at our place.My garden is in Karalee on the western fringe of Brisbane, Australia. Climatically, Zone10 – Sub-tropical. Winter temperatures occasional dip below zero C overnight but can warm to mid-20s during the day. In summer the temperature can soar to over 40 degrees C for a few days, but is generally in the low 30’s.The garden was started from a bare block of land in 2005. Our aim is to create a tropical oasis that is as welcoming to local birds and wildlife as it is to the people who visit. It's a work in progress.